Letter: The meaning of 'independence'

Posted: July 3, 2014 - 7:06pm

Never before has the word “independence” registered so loudly in my consciousness than it does this Independence Day.

I have always thought how lucky I am to be born in a country that is free. What if I had been born in Iraq, or Somalia, or a place where women are second-class citizens, and are expected to do as they are told, to speak only when spoken to, and to keep their faces and their minds out of sight? What would my life be like, living there? Thank God, I live in America and am free to exert my “independence” in any way I choose within the law.

I am so grateful to those very wise forefathers who so carefully thought through the well-defined words in the Declaration of Independence, upon which my freedoms and yours are based.

But this year, the word “independence” has an even deeper meaning for me as I battle on a day-to-day basis to hang on to my personal independence.

Each morning, I give thanks that I am still able to live on my own, maintain an enjoyable lifestyle with creative friends and family, drive my car anywhere I desire to go, have an active and inquiring mind with a love for reading and writing, and am relatively free of dependence upon drugs to keep me going.

Those explosions of color in the Fourth of July night sky will act as reminders of how very precious that word “independence” really is to each of us, and even more so as we approach those late December days of our lives.

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we are losing freedoms. Our freedoms are not based in a piece of parchment, but in the heart that is free. Not free to serve self, but free to serve others. To put others before self. Until then we are not free, but either growing toward that freedom or deception.
Abuse of the Constitution makes it one of the most dangerous and enslaving documents on Earth at the time.
Enjoy the day but, also keep in thought and prayer those living in fear, not only overseas fighting, but those in fear here trapped by the abuse of a misuse of "independence".